Golf club cleaning device



NOV. 26, 1968 D, D PERK|N$ GOLF ,CLUB CLEANING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 25, 1966 I6. 3 DOA/4L0 a PERKINS BY Mvmwzw 9 2 A'ITO EYS Nov. 26, 1968 D. 0. PERKINS 3,

I GOLF CLUB CLEANING DEVICE Filed July 25, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV ENT OR Ill" 00mm 0; Pe-k/rws ,ymr wqyww ATTO KEYS United States Patent 3,412,414 GOLF CLUB CLEANING DEVICE Donald D. Perkins, 1458 Fullen Road, Columbus, Ohio 43224 Filed July 25, 1966, Ser. No. 567,420 7 Claims. (Cl. 1521) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A golf club cleaning device in which a pair of opposed brushes are rotatably mounted in a housing for reception of a club head between them, the brushes being resiliently urged together to maintain the effectiveness of the brushes despite wear.

The present invention relates to golf club cleaning apparatus.

There is general agreement among manufacturers of golf clubs and professional golfers that it is extremely important from the viewpoint of proficiency in playing golf and from the viewpoint of long life of ones golf clubs that the clubs be properly cleaned. When ones golf clubs are clean, a ball which has been hit has greater stability in flight, greater accuracy and more back spin so that it will hold the greens better. Not only does the presence of dirt in the grooves of irons reduce the effectiveness of the club but certain chemicals in the soil cause corrosion and rusting of the club face thereby further and permanently impairing its usefulness. Despite this, prior to the present invention, there has been, so far as I am aware, no satisfactory device for cleaning golf clubs.

This has been despite the fact that, in the past, various reasonably satisfactory devices have been suggested for cleaning of golf balls and golf tees as is illustrated by United States Patent No. 3,055,029, issued Sept. 25, 1962 for Device For Cleaning Golf Tees to L. R. Maetzold; 3,210,789, issued Oct. 12, 1965 to C. L. Garrett for Golf Ball Washer, and 3,119,134, issued Jan. 28, 1964 to R. J. Armitage for Golf Ball Washer.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a golf club cleaning device which is inexpensive to manufacture so that it can be used widely, which is effective and which is extremely simple in operation so that it can be used by any normal golfer without instructions.

I have found that among the more important features involved in the design ofsuch a device for cleaning golf clubs is the establishment of a club head station in which the club head is properly oriented relative to the brushes so that it will be effectively scrubbed and the compensation for brush bristle wear so that the proper club head scrubbing action is achieved not merely when the device is new but after it has had extensive use. To provide such a device is therefore a further and more specific object of this invention.

These and other objects of the present invention will become more fully apparent by reference to the appended claims and as the following detailed description proceeds in reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a golf club cleaning device of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the drawings and primarily to FIG- URE 2, the golf club cleaning device of the present invention comprises a casing formed of two complementary hollow casing halves 12 and 14 which define internally thereof a substantially cylindrical chamber 16 ice bounded by end walls 18 and 20 and a cylindrical wall 22. The two casing halves 10 and 12 are joined together by a plurality of equiangularly spaced assembly screws 24 (FIGURE 1). A fluid tight seal is maintained therebetween by a gasket 26 compressed between the abutting faces 28 and 30 of the casing halves 12 and 14 respectively. At its bottom, the cylindrical wall 22 is provided with a drain opening 32 closed by a plug 34 and gasket 36. The lower half of the casing 10 thus forms a fluid tight reservoir for cleaning fluid such as water.

Disposed withinthe chamber 16 are a pair of annular brush assemblies 38 and 40. Brush assembly 38 comprises a backing element 42 and a annular band of bristle clusters 44 terminating in a common plane 46. Each cluster is fixed in place by a staple, not shown. The backing element 42 may be formed of a plywood, hard rubber, plastic or any other suitable material. Centrally it is formed with a through aperture 48 and has at its opposite sides a pair of apertured metal discs 50 and 52 joined through the backing element 42 by rivets 54. The aperture in disc 50 is circular in cross-section and the aperture in disc 52 is polygonal in cross-section.

The brush assembly 40 is similar to the brush assembly 38 consisting of a backing element 56, an annular band of bristle clusters 58 terminating in a common plane 60 and having opposed centrally apertured discs 62 and 64 joined by rivets 66. The central apertures of both discs 62 and 64 are of like polygonal cross-section to the aperture through disc 52.

The brush assemblies 38 and 40 are mounted upon a shaft 68 which throughout the main portion of its length is of like polygonal cross-section to the apertures through discs 52, 62 and 64 and extends through those apertures to provide a driving connection to the brush assemblies 38 and 40 from the shaft 68 while permitting limited axial sliding motion of brush assemblies 38 and 40 relative thereto.

The brush assembly 38 is journalled upon an antifriction bushing 70 mounted on a stub shaft 72 fixed to the end wall 18 coaxial with the shaft 68, the stub shaft 72 and the bushing 70 projecting into the circular aperture in the disc 50 on the brush assembly 38 thus providing a journal for the brush assembly 38'. The adjacent end of the shaft 68 is in turn supported by the disc 52 on the brush assembly 38. A compression spring 74 surrounds the bushing 70 and is compressed between its radial flange and the opposed surface of the disc 50 as shown to thereby resiliently bias the brush assembly 38 to the right as viewed in FIGURE 2.

The extreme right end 76 of the shaft 68 is cylindrical and is journalled in an antifriction bushing 78 fixed by a press fit within an aperture 80 in the wall 20 of the casing 10 in axial alignment with stub shaft 72 and the shaft 68.

The brush assembly 40 is biased to the left as viewed in FIGURE 2 by a compression spring 82 surrounding shaft 68 and compressed between the radial flange on the bushing 76 and the disc 64 of the brush assembly 40.

Bushings 70 and 78 are both preferably formed of Teflon. The shaft 68 and the apertures through the discs 52, 62 and 64 are preferably square in cross-section.

In this arrangement, the brush assemblies 38 and 40 are biased so that their adjacent ends as defined by the planes 46 and 60 are in abutment and maintained in abutment despite substantial wear from the ends of the bristle clusters 44 and 58. A crank 84 comprising a crank handle 86 and a hub 88 is fixed to the end 76 of the shaft 68 by a pin 90 to facilitate manual rotation of the shaft 68 and the brushes 38 and 40.

To permit insertion and maintenance of proper orientation of the head of a golf club (such as a head of any of the irons numbered 1 through 9, sand or pitching wedges or any blade type putter) I provide a club head insertion and alignment station 92 at the top of the casing 10 in the form of an arcuate opening bounded by end walls 94 and 96 and side walls 98 and 100. The spacing between these walls is such that any of the aforementioned club heads can be inserted downwardly through the opening between the brushes 38 and 40 extending substantially radially toward the axis of rotation of the brush assemblies 38 and 40 as defined by the axis of shaft 68. The side walls 98 and 100 establish circumferential limit positions against one of which the club head is anchored as the brush assemblies 38 and 40 are rotated to impart a scrubbing action to the opposed faces of the club head. By this construction, very little restraining force against the movement of the club is required while the scrubbing action takes place through rotation of brush assemblies 38 and 40 by crank 84, the club head being in effect firmly locked in place. As the club head is inserted, the planes 46 and 60 will be separated slightly as permitted by compression of the springs 74 and 82. As the result, regardless of the thickness of the club head it will be subjected to a scrubbing action on both faces under a substantially uniform pressure.

As is apparent from the foregoing, the present invention as disclosed herein provides a simple economically constructed and effective golf club head cleaning device.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A golf club cleaning device comprising a pair of annular brushes having spaced parallel backing elements from the adjacent faces of which project a plurality of bristles terminating in substantially planar end faces, means mounting said brushes for conjoint coaxial rotation, guide means adapted to receive and position the head of a golf club in a position between and in engagement with the ends of the bristles in said brushes and extending from the periphery thereof toward their common rotation axis whereby, upon rotation of said brushes, a scrubbing action is imparted by said blushes to the opposed faces of a golf club head received in said guide means, at least one of said brushes being mounted for limited axial movement and means biasing said brushes together axially to maintain their bristle ends in engagement irrespective of variations in the length thereof incident to bristle wear,

2. A golf club cleaning device comprising a pair of annular brushes having spaced parallel backing elements from the adjacent faces of which project a plurality of bristles terminating in substantially planar end faces, a casing defining a chamber having opposed end walls disposed adjacent to exterior sides of said brush backing elements, one of said walls having a stub shaft fixed thereto internally of said chamber in axial alignment with said brushes, a first antifriction bushing mounted on said stub shaft and projecting into aligned aperture in the backing element of the adjacent brush to provide bearing support therefor, a second antifriction bushing mounted in a through aperture in an opposite end wall of said chamber, a shaft rotatably supported in said second bushing and extending through the adjacent one of said brushes in driving engagement therewith into the backing element of the other brush in driving engagement therewith, means on the exterior of said opposite end wall drive connecting said shaft for permitting rotation of said shaft, said casing defining a chamber substantially enveloping said brushes, the lower portion of said casing being fiuid tight to form a reservoir through which said brushes pass during at least a portion of their paths of rotation whereby, when said reservoir is filled with a cleaning liquid, said brushes will be immersed therein as said brushes are rotated, and said casing having guide means adapted to receive and position a head of a golf club in a position between and in engagement with the end of the bristles of said brushes and extending from the periphery thereof toward their common rotation axis, whereby, upon rotation of said brushes, a scrubbing action is imparted by said brushes to the opposed faces of a golf club head received in said guide means.

3. The device defined in claim 2 wherein said bushings are formed of Teflon and said first bushing is fixed to said stub shaft and said second bushing fixed in said aperture.

4. The device defined in claim 2 wherein said brush backing elements are axially slidably connected to said shaft and wherein compression springs are interposed axially of said bushing between each of said bushing and the backing element of the adjacent brush to bias said brushes into axial abutment to compensate for brush bristle wear.

5. The device defined in claim 2 wherein said chamber is substantially cylindrical.

6. The device defined in claim 2 wherein said casing is formed in two parts having a parting plane lying substantially in the plane of abutment of said brushes to facilitate access to the components of said device within said casing for maintenance and cleaning purposes.

7. The device defined in claim 2 wherein said guide means is the margin of a peripheral circumferential opening in said casing adjacent the top thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,160,613 11/1915 Illing 1521.3 X 2,198,441 4/1940 Mollart 1521.1 2,472,155 6/1949 Gaino 15-77 2,615,192 10/1952 Morell.

3,055,029 9/1962 Maetzold 1521 3,210,789 10/1965 Garrett l521.1 X 3,332,099 7/1967 Reiter 15-21.0

EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Primary Examiner. 

